Smuggler's Blues
"Smuggler's Blues" is the fifteenth episode of Miami Vice's first season. The episode premiered on February 1, 1985. Summary Crockett & Tubbs flush out a DEA leak with the help of a guitar-playing, free-thinking pilot. Plot Crockett, Tubbs, Switek & Zito are observing a smuggler named Morales is being told in Spanish by someone in a car to "drop the bag or your family gets it". Morales drops a bag into a passing boat over a bridge, causing Crockett & Tubbs to wonder why a smuggler gives up the goods so easily, then goes to a houseboat where a woman is seen dangling from a rope, suddenly, the houseboat explodes, killing the woman inside and badly injuring Morales, and his smuggling days are over. At OCB, Castillo and Homicide Lt. Jones (Ron Vawter) discuss the incident, Jones chalks it up to "the politics of contraband", while Crockett is concerned the smuggler's family was involved too, which is outside the norm. After Jones sneers about the Miami Dolphins, he leaves. Morales survived the explosion but is paralyzed from the waist down. Castillo gets a phone call and asks Crockett & Tubbs to meet him in an abandoned house. They are joined by Trudy and DEA Special Agent Ed Walters (Richard Jenkins) who informs everyone that there have been several smugglers recently involved in similar incidents as Morales and that the victims were currently under investigation from law enforcement, meaning there is a leak somewhere. Walters offers a strictly voluntary plan to flush out the leak and end these attacks: Crockett & Tubbs pose as two legit dealers, go to Cartagena, make a cocaine buy and bring it back to Miami. Trudy will pose as Tubbs' "wife" and wear a homing device. Walters will circulate an false interagency memo about Crockett & Tubbs' activities, and they will get three things: Morales (who agreed to cooperate and ID Tubbs as his cousin), fake background histories on both, and $1 million in cash. They will be completely on their own, no backup, no support, no pass through Customs, no transportation provided. Crockett & Tubbs agree and Tubbs finds an old contact, Tucker, who knows someone who flies and wants to get his name, and after they get Tucker out of a Vice raid, Tucker gives him the pilot's name, Jimmy (Glenn Frey), who they find playing his guitar at a hangar, and he agrees to take them to Cartagena for $25,000...up front. Tubbs drops off Trudy at the hotel, then they park Tubbs' Cadillac at the drop site, where he puts a gun under the rear bumper...just in case. Jimmy's mechanic, Davey Wavey (Richard Edson) has his plane ready and they take off. In Cartagena, Crockett, Tubbs & Jimmy get a room in a rundown section of town, across from the meet place with Grocero (Jaime L. Sanchez), but they cannot agree on a price, and Grocero will let Tubbs know when, or if he will meet again. After leaving the meet, a woman pleads with Tubbs in Spanish, and two bandits drive their car down an alley, while Tubbs subdues one of them, the Policia show up and take Tubbs into custody, while Jimmy & Crockett get away. Jimmy is concerned about Tubbs too but "it's the nature of the business", however Crockett insists they will wait for him. Tubbs is sitting in jail when the policia ''chief reviews the false file on Tubbs, is satisfied Tubbs is clean, and will notify Grocero, who will meet Crockett & Tubbs in 20 minutes. They go to Grocero's place and set up the deal in a smoke-filled room, involving two cars, parked trunk to trunk, one with the cash, one with the drugs, and switch keys. The key exchange is made and Tubbs drives the car with the drugs to the airstrip where Jimmy is waiting, but before they can take off Grocero's men storm the strip, trying to prevent them from leaving. Crockett takes the car and rams Grocero's cars together and they escape in a hail of gunfire. They drop the drugs in the predetermined spot and go back to retrieve it, but Davey Wavey and another man pull guns on Crockett & Tubbs and try to get them to pay up $500,000 to save Trudy and three hours to do it. After Jimmy comes by and saves the Vice cops (and takes a bullet in the process, but survives), and Tubbs shoots down Davey's buddy in his car (with the gun under the bumper), they get Davey to tell them where Trudy is, in a trailer on a construction site. Crockett takes Bomb Squad specialist Sam with him to see what type of bomb is inside. They find Trudy tied up to a chair, with a trembler, a radio controlled device, and an anti-motion device--any sudden moves and they're "wallpaper". Tubbs gets the call letting him know where to drop the money, over the same bridge that Morales used. Crockett tries to calm Trudy down by telling her about his trip while Sam works to get her out of the bomb. Tubbs meets the boat, drops the money ''and himself over. After a struggle, the masked man in the boat tells Tubbs that he will blow the trailer up, though he has 3 police units on him. He activates the device, blowing up the trailer, and Tubbs shoots him down. Crockett calls Tubbs to let him know he, Trudy & Sam got out OK. They pull the dead masked man out and find it's Lt. Jones from Homicide, the "Miami Dolphin fan". Waters can't believe a fellow cop would turn bad, but is reminded that the power of money can do anything to a person. Notes * Glenn Frey's character Jimmy would be mentioned again, but not seen, in Season 2's "Trust Fund Pirates". * The episode was inspired by Frey's hit song Smuggler's Blues, he would write another song, You Belong To The City, specifically for Miami Vice in Season 2's opener "The Prodigal Son". * Miguel Pinero wrote this episode, he played Crockett & Tubbs' nemesis Calderone in the pilot "Brother's Keeper" and the two part "Calderone's Return". * One recurring theme in Miami Vice is the presence of police leakers helping drug dealers. This time it's a police Lieutenant that is the leak, not a line officer or a clerk. Music *"Lunatic Fringe" by Red Rider (Opening sequence with Morales) *"Smuggler's Blues" by Glenn Frey (Tubbs, Crockett & Jimmy fly to and from Cartagena, and Tubbs caught by police in Cartagena) Quotes *"The politics of contraband doesn't involve killing children!" -- Crockett to Lt. Jones *"I ain't John Wayne and I don't have an "S" on my chest, so be brief about your business when you get there!" -- Jimmy to Crockett & Tubbs *"I always like to take a good-bye look at America, just in case it's my last!" -- Jimmy *"This place is like Dodge City, 1985" -- Crockett about Cartagena *"How about I blow that coke right out of you, amigo?" -- Tubbs to Grocero *"Bottom line is M-O-N-E-Y!" -- Tubbs to Waters when he asks the motivation for Jones to turn bad Category:Miami Vice Season 1 Episodes